Circus Is Still A Three-ring Show Of Illusion And Daring

Ringmaster Has Local Degree

There's no central star of the 129th edition of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, which rolls into the Hartford Civic Center today for the first of eight performances through Sunday.

Unless you count the strapping young new ringmaster, Johnathan cq Lee Iverson, who boasts local connections by having attended the Hartt School of Music here.

But the show is as well-paced and tightly run as any in recent memory, with scarcely a pause between its acts, a mix of strange new things and an explosive end of old favorites.

A living carousel is one of the advertised tableaux, and through the typically impressive stage and costume design, it is a wondrous thing to behold the elephants, zebras and elaborate floats.

But there are far fewer animals than you would imagine. There are 16 pachyderms as usual, a couple of zebras, an ostrich you see for a few seconds, a leopard you see for even less time. When they say 200 animals, they're counting every last horse, dog, cat and dove -- all of which appear in later three-ring acts.

Instead, taking a cue from the designer of Broadway's ``Lion King,'' there is creative use of stilts and costumes to create the clever illusions of prancing horses and especially those long-limbed faux giraffes.

Stilts are on a growth cycle in the circus this year, with clown gags dependent on covered stilts as well, and at least one acrobatic act involving them. But they aren't the only sticks this year, as a weird pogo-stick unit is paired with another acrobatic squad with which they have little in common beyond their costumes. But it's interesting. And, As with the rest of the show, they're on and off quite quickly.

Whatever international relations may be outside the circus, the Chinese acrobats still fly on trapezes in one of the highlights of the first half.

The second half offers the bulk of the thrill acts, with the Carillio highwire act especially effective since they don't use a net and traverse the high wire above a tiger cage filling with tigers.

The big ending offers the Wheel of Wonder (a breathtaker every time) and the buzz and exhaust of the Globe of Death. In between is an act novel in its simplicity and its brevity. The Human Comet climbs a ladder, bursts into flames and jumps to a mattress. Boom.

It's two full hours from start to finish; show up an hour early to walk around the arena floor for close inspection of clowning, juggling and a few of the animals.

One odd thing that happened at the Saturday afternoon show in New Haven was when a animal rights' protesters stood to unfurl a banner mid-show. A short struggle ensued with a guy whose vision was blocked and then an usher. But my kids couldn't figure if it was real, or, like the lady who volunteers to ride a horse at the beginning of the show, part of the show. Such is the magic of the circus.